Plumber, Pipefitter & Steamfitter Salary Guide for Employers (SOC 47-2152)

The Counter-Offer That Just Landed in Your Inbox

You made what felt like a solid offer to a journeyman plumber — a number you arrived at based on what you paid your last hire three years ago and a quick scan of Indeed. Forty-eight hours later they came back at $7,000 more per year, said two other shops in your metro were already in that range, and asked for an answer by Friday.

That's not a negotiating tactic. That's a market reality, and it's happening to plumbing and pipefitting contractors across the country right now. The talent pool is tight, experienced journeymen know their number, and the gap between a gut-feel offer and a data-backed one is getting expensive.

This plumber salary guide gives you the BLS-grounded anchor you need to build an offer that holds up — the national median, the full percentile spread, the occupational profile, and a worked example for turning raw BLS data into a salary band you can actually take to a candidate. Every figure here comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. For the most current local rate in your specific market, head to bls.gov/oes — that's the live source, and it's free.

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What BLS OEWS SOC 47-2152 Actually Covers

The first thing to know about this plumber salary guide is that BLS groups three related occupations into a single wage series under SOC code 47-2152: Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters. SOC stands for Standard Occupational Classification — the federal taxonomy that lets BLS compare wages across the entire US economy using consistent buckets.

That shared SOC code is important because it means there is one wage series for all three roles. BLS does not publish a separate median for "pipefitters only" or "steamfitters only" at the national level. The O*NET occupational system does distinguish the work each role performs in rich detail — tasks, skills, knowledge — but the wage row in the OEWS data rolls all three together.

Why does this matter for your offer? Because the market price for a journeyman pipefitter specializing in high-pressure industrial systems may feel different from the market price for a residential service plumber in the same city — and that local texture lives at the state and metro level, not in a single national number. We'll cover how to get there.

For more context on how the different trades sit next to each other in BLS data, the skilled trades wage benchmarking guide walks through the SOC taxonomy as a whole.

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Plumber Salary by Percentile: The National Baseline (BLS, May 2024)

Here is the national wage picture for SOC 47-2152 — Plumbers, Pipefitters & Steamfitters — as of the BLS OEWS May 2024 release.

National median annual wage: $62,970 ($30.27/hr)

That figure comes from a survey that sampled roughly 1.1 million US establishments — the OEWS is one of the largest employer surveys the federal government runs, covering about 55% of total national employment. The median is the midpoint: half of workers in this occupation earned more, half earned less.

Below is the full spread across the distribution. Think of each percentile as a bookmark in the wage range: the 10th percentile means 9 out of 10 workers in this occupation earn more than that figure, while the 90th percentile means only 1 in 10 earns above it.

Percentile	What it signals	Annual wage (May 2024, national)
10th	Entry / limited experience	See bls.gov/oes
25th	Junior journeyman	See bls.gov/oes
50th (median)	Solid journeyman baseline	$62,970
75th	Experienced / specialty	See bls.gov/oes
90th	Senior / high-demand metro	See bls.gov/oes

A note on local rates: The verified national figure in this guide is the May 2024 median of $62,970. BLS publishes state and metro percentile breakdowns — including for major markets like Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles — but those figures are not reproduced here because local data must be pulled directly from BLS to ensure accuracy. Go to bls.gov/oes, select SOC 47-2152, and choose your state or metro area. Where a metro cell is suppressed (BLS suppresses estimates for very small samples), use the statewide figure and note the limitation in your compensation documentation.

Why does the spread matter? Because a single median tells you where the middle of the market is — but it doesn't tell you where a specific candidate sits. A second-year apprentice completing their hours and a 15-year journeyman pipefitter with welding certifications are not priced at the same point in this distribution, even though BLS counts them in the same SOC bucket. The percentile spread gives you the full field.

For comparison, the electrician salary guide walks through the same percentile framework for SOC 47-2111 (national median $62,350, May 2024) — useful context if you staff mixed-trade crews.

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Employment & Outlook: Why the Market Is Tight

The national median of $62,970 doesn't exist in a vacuum. Here's the market context that explains why candidates are coming in with counter-offers:

• 504,500 plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters were employed nationally as of 2024 (BLS).
• The occupation is projected to grow +4% from 2024 to 2034 — in line with average job growth across the economy.
• BLS estimates approximately 44,000 job openings per year over that projection period, driven by a combination of new demand and retirements. About 1 in 5 construction workers is currently over age 55 (ABC), and plumbing and pipefitting are no exception.
• The broader construction and extraction group is projected to generate roughly 649,300 annual openings (BLS, 2024–34 outlook), with faster-than-average growth across many trade categories — meaning plumbing and pipefitting is competing with electricians, HVAC techs, and ironworkers for the same pipeline of qualified workers.

Separately, the ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors) estimated that the construction industry needed approximately 439,000 net new workers in 2025 just to meet demand — on top of normal replacement hiring. And over the next decade, an estimated 1.9 million workers will need to be attracted to construction trades to keep pace with growth and retirements.

That's the environment in which you're making your next offer. The candidate sitting across from you knows it, even if they've never read an OEWS table.

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O*NET Occupational Profile: What This Role Actually Requires

The wage number tells you what the market pays. The ONET profile tells you what you're actually buying when you make an offer. BLS OEWS and ONET are the two datasets SkilledMarkets joins together — here's what the O*NET side looks like for the plumbing/pipefitting family.

Job Zone: Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters typically fall in Job Zone 3 — medium preparation needed. Job Zones are O*NET's five-level scale for how much education, related experience, and on-the-job training an occupation typically requires, from Job Zone 1 (little or no preparation) to Job Zone 5 (extensive preparation, often requiring advanced degrees).

Job Zone 3 means a candidate typically brings some previous work-related skill or knowledge, often through a formal apprenticeship. In practice, journeyman plumbers complete 3–4 years of apprenticeship training (often a Registered Apprenticeship Program, or RAP) before sitting for their journeyman license exam. Apprentices who complete a Registered Apprenticeship averaged wages of $18/hr at program entry rising to $32/hr at completion — a 77% increase — according to Department of Labor data.

Representative tasks and skills that O*NET documents for this occupation family include:

• Measuring, cutting, threading, and assembling pipe sections
• Testing systems for leaks using pressure gauges
• Laying out and planning the routing of pipe systems from blueprints
• Soldering, brazing, and welding pipe joints
• Collaborating with other trades (electricians, HVAC techs, GCs) on installation sequencing
• Knowledge of building codes, permits, and inspection requirements

This is not a general-labor role. It requires trade-specific technical knowledge, code familiarity, physical precision, and — for pipefitters and steamfitters in industrial or commercial settings — often OSHA and confined-space certifications that compound the market value of experienced workers.

For a deeper look at how O*NET profiles translate into job descriptions and offer positioning, see the trade wage data hub.

This article includes information from ONET OnLine, developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. ONET is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.

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Building a Salary Band from the BLS Median: A Worked Example

The national median of $62,970 is your anchor. A salary band converts that anchor into a structured min/midpoint/max range that gives you a defensible, flexible tool for making offers — and for having the counter-offer conversation without panic.

Here is a worked example. This is illustrative math to show you the method; your actual band should be anchored on the local figure for your state or metro from bls.gov/oes.

Step 1: Choose your anchor. Use the national May 2024 median of $62,970 as a starting point, or substitute your state/metro median when you have it.

Step 2: Set a spread buffer. A common band spread for skilled trade roles is ±15–20% around the midpoint. We'll use ±17.5% for this example.

Step 3: Calculate the band.

• Midpoint: $62,970 (anchored on the median)
• Minimum (midpoint × 0.825): $62,970 × 0.825 = ~$51,950 (entry journeyman, limited local experience)
• Maximum (midpoint × 1.175): $62,970 × 1.175 = ~$73,990 (senior journeyman, specialized certs, high-demand market)

In practice, a journeyman with two to three years of post-apprenticeship experience should land between the midpoint and the 75th percentile of the local distribution. A candidate coming in with niche certifications — medical gas, backflow prevention, high-pressure industrial — may justify an offer at or above the 75th percentile in your market.

The how to build a salary band for trade roles guide walks through the full methodology, including how to handle union versus non-union adjustments and how to document your band for pay-transparency compliance. The pipefitter salary guide applies this same framework specifically to industrial pipefitting roles.

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What a Mis-Priced Offer Actually Costs

It's easy to think the risk of a low offer is just losing one candidate. The real cost is longer.

Using SHRM and Department of Labor benchmarks as an illustrative model: replacing a skilled trade employee who earns $63,000/yr can cost anywhere from $31,500 to $126,000 — 50% to 200% of annual salary — when you factor in recruiting costs, lost productivity during the vacancy, onboarding time, and the ramp-up period before the new hire is fully productive. The DOL separately estimates that a single bad hire can cost up to 30% of that employee's first-year salary.

These are modeled ranges based on published SHRM/DOL benchmarks, not a number you should take to the bank — your actual cost depends on your market, your crew size, and how long roles sit open. But they frame the question correctly: the delta between a $55,000 offer and a $63,000 offer is $8,000. The cost of losing the hire and starting over is likely a multiple of that.

If you want to run the math for your own numbers, the ROI calculator lets you plug in your actual salary and vacancy costs.

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How to Use This Guide Alongside Current Market Data

This plumber salary guide gives you the national baseline and the methodology. Here's how to complete the picture before your next offer:

1. Pull your state and metro percentiles from BLS. Go to bls.gov/oes, navigate to the May 2024 release (or the most recent available), select Occupation "47-2152," and filter by your state or metro area. Where a metro cell is suppressed due to small sample size, step up to the state figure.

2. Adjust for role type within the SOC. Residential service plumbers, commercial pipefitters, and industrial steamfitters are priced differently in local labor markets even though BLS aggregates them. Use the local distribution as your floor and adjust upward for specialty certifications or industrial complexity.

3. Build a band, not a point. A single number makes counter-offers awkward. A min/midpoint/max band gives you room to respond to counter-offers without abandoning your position or overpaying for entry-level experience.

4. Check the wage-growth context. Private-industry wages and salaries grew +3.4% year-over-year as of March 2026 (BLS Employment Cost Index). Union wages grew at +4.3% over the same period versus +3.3% for non-union (BLS ECI, December 2025). If your last salary review was more than 12 months ago, your bands may already be trailing the market.

For a broader view of how the skilled trades wage landscape compares across electrical, HVAC, and welding roles, the skilled trades wage benchmarking guide is a good next read. And if you're hiring in California, check the California skilled trades wages guide — state-level wage dynamics there differ meaningfully from the national median.

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Get Your Bands Built Faster

If pulling BLS CSVs, joining SOC codes, and building band spreadsheets for every role you're hiring sounds like a Saturday project, that's the problem SkilledMarkets solves. Our platform takes the same BLS OEWS + O*NET data that powers this guide and turns it into an employer-ready workflow: look up any trade SOC code, filter by geography and experience percentile, and generate a salary band in the format your offer letter actually needs.

You can also get the full trade compensation picture in one place with the Skilled Trades Compensation Guide 2026 (PDF) — a ready-to-use reference that covers SOC-level wage benchmarks, band methodology, and hiring context across the major specialty trades.

Start a free 14-day trial at SkilledMarkets pricing — no credit card required, no commitment — and run the band for the plumber role you're hiring for right now.

For the live wage figure for your specific state or metro, always confirm at bls.gov/oes. The May 2024 national median cited throughout this guide ($62,970) is a BLS OEWS estimate; it will be updated when the next OEWS release becomes available.